IMBB 13: Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes

March 21, 2005

Every time I see an IMBB I intend to participate then I always miss the deadline (or slack off). This time I planned ahead and actually made cupcakes.

Sarah’s birthday was on Sunday and we had a party on Saturday night. Birthday parties require cake of some sort and I figured that cupcakes would be perfect. Sarah wasn’t so sure about the cupcakes, but I let her pick what kind they would be so she acquiesced. I think that she thought I would give up when she suggested Nutella flavored cupcakes, but I thought it would be perfect.

The recipe is a modification of my Baking is Science cake recipe (which I didn’t post because I’d only made it once). I’m able to post it now though. I didn’t write the recipe all that well which did cause some problems with the cupcakes, but the recipe is now great. I had intended to replace a bit of the cake flour with hazelnut flour, but I couldn’t find any hazelnuts to grind into flour. We needed more than 12 cupcakes, so I made the recipe twice — the short baking time was perfect for mixing up the second batch.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes

200g cake flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

25g cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

70g sugar

2 eggs and 3 yolks

1/2 cup buttermilk (low fat, not no fat)

1/3 cup oil

1 tbsp hazelnut liquor

Preheat oven to 350°. Sift together the dry ingredients — remember, sugar is wet. Cream butter and sugar. Combine with other wet ingredients and mix well. Add the dry ingredients and mix to combine.

These can be baked as 12 cupcakes or a 9″ cake. Bake for 15-20 minutes as cupcakes or 35-40 minutes for a cake.

Frosting

1 container of chocolate hazelnut spread (such as Nutella), melted

2 tbsp melted butter

1/4 cup milk

powdered sugar to achieve desired consistency

The original plan was to just frost the cupcakes with the spread, but it was too thick and tore the cupcakes. The inital melting idea didn’t work well either (it got grainy). The solution was to take the melted spread and combine with melted butter, milk, and powdered sugar to make a glaze for dipping the cupcakes.

We trimmed the cupcakes and made cake crumbs with the trimmings. The crumbs were sprinkled on the cupcakes before they were dusted with powdered sugar to provide some texture. I’m pleased with the outcome. The cake isn’t very sweet, but the glaze is very sweet and made for a nice balance.